Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Patricia BelinchónLaura Domínguez

Why “Alice in Wonderland”?

It is a VERY POPULAR book that has inspired numerous live performances, including plays, operas, ballets, movies, and traditional English pantomimes

The tale plays with LOGIC, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children.

It is considered to be one of the best examples of the LITERARY NONSENSE genre.

Target readers

Third Cycle of Primary Education (11 - 12 )years old students, in a bilingual school.

English level: A2

Type of literary text and Methodology

TYPE OF TEXT: Prose . An adapted version of the fairy tale “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”.

APPROACH: communicative language teaching READING: in-class reading TIME SPAN: 6 class periods (50 min each) MATERIALS: an audio-book, a copy of an

adapted version of the fairy tale, worksheets, pencils and coloring pens.

ACTIVITIES: Pre - reading. Activity 1: Students will be asked what they

know about the classic story. Activity 2: Brief introduction of

Lewis Carroll

Activity 3: Audio book: “Read along with Alice” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWh4nQbdKyQ&feature=related

Activity 4: New vocabulary of the story will be taught.

Vocabulary exampleAntipathies: strong feelings of dislike

Croquet: a game in which players drive wooden balls with mallets through a series of

wickets set out on a lawn

Currant: small seedless raisin

Curtsey: an act of politeness or respect made mainly by women; slight lowering of the

body by bending the knees

Eaglet: baby eagle

Hatter: person who makes, sells, cleans, or repairs hats

Marmalade: a jam containing pieces of fruit

Looking glass: mirror

Pun: a joke in which a person uses a word in two senses

Simpleton: a foolish stupid person

Titter: to giggle

ACTIVITIES: While -reading.

COMPREHENSION:

The students read aloud in turns Alice in Wonderland, but an adapted version

written by Lenny de Rooy.Afterwards

they complete a worksheet

Worksheet – Comprehension check -

Choose the best ending to complete these sentences. Tick (✓) A or B.

0 When Alice sees the rabbit A she follows him.

B she looks at her watch.

1 When she takes the key A she opens a lot of doors.

B she opens a very small door.

2 When she drinks from the bottle A she becomes very small.

B she becomes very big.

3 When she eats the cake A she can go in the garden.

B she can get the key.

4 When she sees the white rabbit again A he is wearing white gloves.

B he is wearing a jacket. 5 When she meets the Mouse in the pool A she speaks to it in French.

B she swims away.

ACTIVITIES: After- reading.

Activity 1: Story Detectives.

Activity 2: Causes and effects

Activity 3: Carroll´s Characters.

Activity 4: Our very own class-written version.

Story detective a.Begins with “Once upon a time,” or

“Long ago, in a faraway land,” or another similar opening

Alice is sitting with her sister on the riverbank and is very bored. Suddenly she sees a white rabbit running by her.

b. Happens in the long ago, made of fantasy and make believe

She is in Wonderland, a magic place with mad creatures.

c. Royalty usually present in the story

The Queen and king of Wonderland.

d. Good and evil characters

Alice and The Queen of heart, her antagonist.

e. Magic (giants, elves, genies, fairies, etc.)

Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, Duchess, Mad Hatter, March Hare, Dormouse, Caterpillar

f. Problem to be solved, usually in three tries.

Once a bite of mushroom sent her shooting up in height. Another bite made her shrink very small. And a third bite brought herself down to the right size.

g. Happy endings.

Suddenly Alice woke up and found herself still under the shady tree. “It was all a dream”

FAIRY TALE ’S ELEMENT

Causes and Effects

Alice became bored and chose to follow the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole,

which led to her adventures;

She drank a liquid and it made her ten inches tall

She ate the cake and it made her tall again

She held a fan and it made her shrink again

When she was worried and felt sorry for herself she sat down and

cried, which created a pool of tears that she almost drowned in.

Carroll’s Characters DiagramAlice: Seven year old girl, active imagination, very smart, polite, kind, brave

Cheshire cat: Grinning cat, appears and disappears, claims to be mad, listens to

Alice, becomes her friend.

White Rabbit: Nervous, important in Wonderland, in a hurry

Queen of Hearts: Mean woman, queen of Wonderland, orders for everyone’s

heads to be cut off, but they never are.

King of Hearts: Husband to the queen, not really a ruler, self-cantered, stubborn

Duchess: Old woman, mistreats her baby, ugly, abused by her cook

Mad Hatter : Sells hats, stuck in tea-time, often impolite, confusing to people

March Hare: Mad Hatter’s friend, crazy, rude

Dormouse: Hare’s friend, Hatter’s friend, sleepy

Caterpillar: Hookah-smoking, insect, gives Alice the mushroom, which helps her

change her size, unfriendly, but helpful.

Carroll’s Characters Filling cards Illustrations (Disney & John Tenniel)

Alice:

Evaluation and Assesment

Continuous and global. It must provide constant feedback during the

WHOLE process of teaching and learning: Initial evaluation Evaluation throughout the process summative evaluation.